Deadly Little Lies Read Online Free PDF Page A

the shriek of metal on metal as bullets hit the car, but nothing slowed the Suburban’s retreat as it peeled out of the wreckage of the patio and roared away.
    Everything Gates had taught him, all the tactics, raced through his mind, but none of the scenarios had included Carrie.
    None had included a hostage other than himself.
    A serious oversight.
    A heavy canvas bag dropped over his head and a sickly sweet smell filled his nose. He tried in vain to hold his breath, but a blow to his back forced a sharp inhalation.
    Everything went black.
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    Niko rubbed his aching cheek. The blow his brother, Davros Gianikopolis, had landed thirteen years ago today, had cracked his cheekbone. On days like this one, with San Francisco’s changeable weather, and with the barometric pressure dropping to herald a storm, he felt it as a bitter echo of the long-ago battle.
    It throbbed; thirteen years of pain.
    None of the bones he’d broken since, in jail or in his time as a mercenary in South America and Africa, had hurt as much or ached as long. He took it as a sign that this first pain was the deepest, the one that most needed redress.
    It was time to take his revenge.
    â€œTime to serve the coldest dish up to you, Dav, long past time,” he chuckled. None of this would have been possible when Dav’s former security team was in charge. No. Only now, in the interregnum, the time between the old and new, could he strike, and strike hard.
    The contacts he’d cultivated with little success had suddenly opened up when Bromley was attacked the previous year. Instead of ruining everything he’d planned, the debacle with the woman trying to kill Gates had worked to his advantage. It proved he was on the right track; it was destiny.
    Those same contacts now believed him to be part of Dav’s organization. It was a beautiful con and he’d profited significantly already. At last, everything was ready for the final steps.
    He was ready.
    He paused long enough to send a text to his mentor, the man who’d taught him to think cold, to plan, to play the long, hard game. He’d wanted Niko to hire someone for this task, keep it impersonal, but Niko knew he had to handle it himself. Revenge should be personal. Tomorrow the world would change.
    Ready to implement, he typed.
    â€œThis time, brother,” he murmured, lowering the binoculars, but still observing every angle to be sure he was unwatched, “it will be me, taking everything you love.”
    He called the girl, Inez, and kept her talking until he saw Dav and his protective detail round the corner toward the restaurant. He’d waited half an hour, just to be sure they weren’t coming back, then dialed again. Everything was in place; it was ready and had been since Inez had gushingly told him about the date Dav had arranged with Carrie McCray. She was his inside “man” and she’d played her part to perfection.
    â€œHi, honey. Lock the front doors like you’re getting that shipment, I’ll come to the back, okay? I’ll knock—” He let his voice drop to a sexy range. “I know we won’t have much time, but I need to see you, to touch you.” He tucked the phone in between his shoulder and his ear as he told her what she wanted to hear, that she was beautiful, sexy, desirable.
    After parking several blocks away—a lucky break in the popular neighborhood—he walked to the back of the building.
    â€œI’m so excited. This is like clandestine stuff, you know?” she whispered over the phone.
    â€œUh-huh. Scary sex is great sex, babe.”
    She gushed and giggled into the phone and he rolled his eyes. Women were all alike. At the edge of the building he stopped long enough to pull on the thin gloves and slip surgical booties over his shoes.
    â€œI’m just at the back door now, babe. Come let me in,” he crooned, moving up to the receiving dock, while staying out of range